Before our Florida family left us for their southern home, they’d hoped for a heavy snowstorm. Although they loved our northern cold after a hot weather year, they were disappointed with the small accumulation they found at Christmas time.

Louisa also arrived home eager to get into a Michigan winter after a school semester in sweaty Kona, Hawaii. Hopeful for deep snow, in the short time she was here, she didn’t get it.

Our British family has been here long enough to have enjoyed a blizzard at the front end of their stay but were counting on just one more snowfall before they left (next week).

Tonight they hit the jackpot.

A narrow column of lake effect snow is crawling at 4 mph from north to south along Lake Michigan, dumping its load directly on us as it hits land. On the satellite map the storm looks like Mother Nature’s gloved finger moving along the water surface as if checking for dust on a mantle top. Tonight’s forecast is in feet rather than inches, although in nearby Chicago, skies are clear.

Looking out the window, I feel like we’re living in a glass snow globe someone has just shaken. The blizzard churns in every direction, and we can hardly see the end of the yard. But it’s strikingly beautiful, clean and bright-white, even through nighttime’s darkness.

The God of summer rain is also the God of winter snow. He has set the world in motion and in that sense the laws of nature obey his orders. But according to Scripture, he’s more directly involved with our storm than that. Consider this passage from Job 37 and its description of the Lord’s command over nature:

“He says to the snow, ‘Fall on the earth.’ So that everyone he has made may know his work, he stops all people from their labor. The tempest comes out from its chamber, the cold from the driving winds. The breath of God produces ice, and the broad waters become frozen. He loads the clouds with moisture. At his direction they swirl around over the face of the whole earth to do whatever he commands them.”

The Bible says it well. We’ve stopped what we’re doing to look out the windows, marveling at what’s going on out there. Massive Lake Michigan is being stilled as frozen winds freeze it, and the clouds are loaded with moisture as they swirl in obedience to God’s commands.

Although tonight’s storm is an excuse to get out and frolic, it’s also the perfect chance to be enveloped in one of God’s wonders, appreciating him in the snow and giving him credit for this display of power and impressive splendor.

“The Almighty is beyond our reach and exalted in power.” (Job 37:23)